<p>Hi there,</p>
<p>I have heard a lot about how the women's colleges have great financial aid and for some, merit aid as well. I am especially interested in MHC and Smith, but would love to hear about the others too. Are these financial and merit aids truly as generous as they are made out to be? MHC is my dream school... but I just don't know if I can afford it. :(</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Merit aid at Smith is limited and pretty competitive. They give out about 50 STRIDE scholarships to incoming students each year; these are $15K a year for 4 years, and include a paid research assistant position for the first 2 years. There are also 10 Zollman scholarships worth $20K a year with the same research deal.</p>
<p>All of the seven sisters (this includes Smith and MHC) meet 100% of demonstrated need through their financial aid programs. There are only 62 such schools out of the 1000+ that US News reviews, so the women’s colleges do have great financial aid compared to the vast majority of colleges.</p>
<p>My D2 got $25k/year in merit aid at MHC two years ago. Ended up picking another school, but it was a nice offer. Her scores were very high (2380 superscore SAT, 800 SAT Subject Lit and 800 SAT Subject Math II).</p>
<p>D had lots of leadership in her HS resume and received enough merit from MHC such that MHC was cheaper to attend than our state flagship U. She was top ten at her HS out of 300, and had roughly 1350 SAT’s out of 1600. She felt the senior who interviewed her did a better job than the admin counselors who interviewed her at other places. The two really connected.</p>
<p>Hi all- thanks so much for your comments. Would you mind looking over one of my older posts I wrote about the chance of admission and instead seeing it in view of chance of merit aid? I am not 16 anymore, I am 17 and a senior. But the rest is still the same.</p>
<p>Hi there- really hoping I can get some input on my situation.</p>
<p>I am 16 years old and in my junior year at a middle college high school (which means that I am enrolled at a small high school and a large community college concurrently). My school is a very small school with an outstanding reputation- it has received numerous bronze medals from US Newsweek for the “Best High Schools in America” category and has a very high API score. It is highly competitive, therefore, I am not in the top 10% of my class.</p>
<p>Now for a little bit about myself I am predicting my GPA to be around a 3.6-3.75 when I graduate. This is because I have a learning disability in math, so my low math grades have a negative impact on my overall GPA. The learning disability will also impact the math portion of the SAT, which I will choose not to submit if I do end up applying to Holyoke. (Although in the PSAT, my reading score was very high…) We’ll have to see how the SAT goes- but in short, im not expecting anything special.</p>
<p>Ok, time to go back to where I mentioned being a middle college student. At the time I graduate high school, I will have earned not one, but TWO associate degrees in History and Geography from my community college. Only a handful of middle college students obtain ONE associates degree by the time they graduate high school, let alone TWO. This means that I will have earned over 60 units at the college with all A’s/ some B’s in all of the courses needed for my majors. I am very involved at the college despite my age, and I am the co-founder/current Vice President of my community college’s Geography Club. As the Vice President of Geography Club, I will be a leading team member of our college’s first annual Science Fair next spring, where we will be conducting research on the impact of climate change on various cultural groups. (Part of the reason I want to attend Mount Holyoke is for their Geography program in particular) I will also be joining the community college honors/community service society Gamma Beta Phi next semester. I have been a member of my high school’s National Honors Society for all three years so far.</p>
<p>As for extracurricular activities- I have been a Girl Scout for 11 years and have earned my Gold Award- a MAJOR leadership and community service project. It is the highest honor a Girl Scout can receive, and very few girls ever get it. I am also an avid equestrian of 12 years and have received numerous local show circuit awards.</p>
<p>As for my letter(s) of recommendation(s), they will be excellent. I know I could get an outstanding one from the Geography department chair of the community college. My personal statement/essay will be very strong.</p>
<p>Overall, I feel that Mount Holyoke is a perfect match for me. I am a strong, independent, and creative young woman who is ready to continue making a positive impact on the world around her. Education is very important to me.</p>
<p>That being said, I am not rich. Going to Mount Holyoke and wasting all of the transferable units I have worked so hard for is something difficult to come to terms with. I don’t know if I could qualify for much financial aid, and I don’t feel that I am good enough to earn a scholarship (or am I wrong?).</p>
<p>So my question for you is- 1) Do you think there is a chance I could get in to Mount Holyoke? 2) Is it worth the financial expenses/loss of units?</p>
<p>If all other things were set aside, and I was somehow in a position where I could attend any college in the US, I know where I would go. Mount Holyoke. </p>
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<p>Smith’s wording is very misleading. There are 200-250 STRIDE’s awarded…~50 accept.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Peter de Villiers, the faculty coordinator of the STRIDE program, says the research scholarships have doubled the acceptance rate for high-performing students since the program was instituted.</p>
<p>“It is an important part of our admissions strategies for attracting the academically strongest or best prepared students to come to the college,” de Villiers said. "Ten to 12 percent of those top-rated students in the applicant pool used to say yes to Smith before the STRIDE program was implemented, and now 20 to 25 percent of that group say yes to the offer from Smith."</p>
<p>*The yield for this group used to consistently exceed 25 percent and has declined in the past few years, according to Smith.*The yield for all admitted-students normally ranges from 36 to 40 percent.</p>
<p>“We were concerned with the range of students we were losing,” Smith said, explaining why the STRIDE award amount was increased. The college was losing academically promising students to Ivy League schools, state universities and other liberal arts colleges such as Mount Holyoke.</p>
<p>Despite the award increase, STRIDE enrollment levels remained constant this year.The college was expecting to enroll 60 STRIDE students, but only received 51, one fewer than last year.</p>
<p>Additionally:</p>
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<p>MHC college offers nice merit and generous. MHC deterimes the “need” based upon your CSS profile. Thier idea of your need and your idea may differ. </p>
<p>As far as the math LD, maybe look into specialized tutoring. </p>
<p>@stitchpony, have you run the Net Price Calculators for both schools? My D’s financial aid award was almost exactly that the NPC result gave us prior to applying. That is, they expected us to pay the amount that the federal government figured as our EFC (Estimated Family Contribution) based on the FAFSA form, but all of the rest of the cost of attendance was paid for, either by grants from Mount Holyoke, work-study, or the federal subsidized student loans (not very much.) If your family is more well off, your net price may be higher, but you’re still likely to get a lot more aid from Smith or MHC than at other colleges that do not meet 100% need. If your family is very well off, and does not qualify for ANY need-based aid, then -as others have said- if your grades/scores are good enough, you may also be offered merit aid.</p>
<p>I recommend you run the NPC. Have a parent sit with you with their tax forms so that you are filling it out very accurately. At the end is a breakdown showing how much the school will give you in grants, how much they expect you to earn at a work-study job, how much they expect you to take out in federal student loans, and how much they expect your family to pay out of pocket.</p>
<p>Note that in addition to financial aid, the Mt Holyoke NPC will estimate merit aid based on your test scores and GPA (the Smith and Bryn Mawr NPCs don’t because they give fewer merit awards and use a holistic approach to determining merit awards).</p>
<p>You can figure out the number of students receiving merit aid at each school by looking at the common data sets for each school (add line H2-g and line H2A-n in the 2013-2014 common data set). For example, in 2013-2014, Bryn Mawr had 72 students (5.4% of the student body), Smith had 122 students (4.7%), and MHC had 377 students (17%).</p>
<p>Hi Stacy- </p>
<p>Unfortunately my parents work long hours so it has been hard for me to find a time to sit down with them to run the NPC. I do not know any of the information needed for it and couldn’t even guess our income if I tried. If I had to take a stab at it, id say we are middle class to upper middle class- but that is also because we live in California and the cost of living is high in our area. Does that factor into financial aid at all? Is it possible for me to get financial aid if I am upper middle class? Again- I do not know ANYTHING else about our family’s finances, income, etc other than that, and I know there is much more to it than just what class you fall into.</p>
<p>Also, when people talk about Merit Aid at MHC, how good do you have to be to get it? I posted in the comments above about what kind of a student I am and do you think I would be competitive for any merit aid? AS AN UPDATE- I spoke to the Director of Transfer Admissions at MHC and she said she is going to calculate my credits earned at the community college and I may actually be eligible to go in as a transfer!!! 
So that would be great if it happens.</p>
<p>Hi Photodad-</p>
<p>When you say they calculate merit aid based on GPA and test scores, is that ALL they base it on? I have a learning disability in math which hurts my overall GPA and test scores (that I will not be submitting to MHC because they are not mandatory or impressive). But I have other impressive academic achievements (please refer to my long comment above somewhere) AS AN UPDATE- I spoke to the Director of Transfer Admissions at MHC and she said she is going to calculate my credits earned at the community college and I may actually be eligible to go in as a transfer!!! So that would be great if it happens.</p>
<p>They likely have at least some flexibility since GPAs mean different things at different high schools so they already have to interpret them. That would be a good question for the admissions office. </p>
<p>One thing to be careful about is that sometimes financial aid is not as good for transfers and sometimes merit aid isn’t available; I have no idea if that’s true for MHC, but it’s something to check on.</p>
<p>IMO, the best course of action right now is to focus on your apps, MHC and others. You’ll need to decide if you will apply as first year or a transfer. As a 17 year old, you may want to consider applying as first year: more merit $$ available, more support geared toward first time college students. Since you have an untraditional background (CC courses instead of HS) you may want to apply to wider pool than just MHC and Smith. I think 12 schools (3 reach 5 comfort, 4 saftey is norm). Depending upon your finacial situation you may need to inclued some financial safties as well. </p>
<p>As far as the NPC is concerned, you are correct–not a form most kids can even begin to complete. yes it gives you hint of any pontential package, but is not always reflective of your package. Nows the time to talk budget with mom and dad. Ask your parents to complete the Css profile, using data from thier 2013 tax return. That should give you a heads up when applying for aid. Once the CSS profile is complet then Mom and dad can start on the NPCs.</p>
<p>Oh of course. I am applying to 9 schools as of right now, and only 3 are women’s colleges. The rest are state schools with no reaches.</p>
<p>Yeah. I really do need to sit my parents down at some time and talk to them about it. Thank you for your comment!</p>
<p>Wesleyan College and Agnes Scott College give pretty good merit aid, Agnes Scott’s is probably better than Wesleyan’s. All of the 7 sisters give very good need-based aid.</p>
<p>You say you’re middle/upper middle class. Mount Holyoke’s average net price for $48,00-75,000 income is $20,232. For $75,000-110,000 income the average net price is $27,071. The average net price for income $110,000+ is $36,703. Compare that to the sticker price of $55,496. This data is coming from the College Navigator <a href=“College Navigator - Mount Holyoke College”>College Navigator - Mount Holyoke College;
<p>To fill out the net price calculator, you’ll need your parents’ tax returns from last year.</p>
<p>For lower, lower middle and middle income students I don’t think you can beat Wellesley’s financial aid. Scripp’s should be good too, but they have fewer Pell students. Wellesley has 17% and the application is free for everyone and Scripps has 11% Pell. Use the Net Price Calculator for MHC and the others you’re interested in.</p>
<p>Fwiw, 22 percent of Smith and 25 percent of MHC students receive Pell Grants</p>
<p>@CrewDad your numbers may be more accurate or current than those I posted. Using the same source I used for Wellesley and Scripps it shows 20% for Smith and 18% for Mount Holyoke. </p>
<p>@CrewDad using your source what percentages do you show for the other colleges?</p>
<p>NPCs are important to use because they will show how much of your need will be met and whether it involves loans or not. Some meet full need without any loans for the lower income students. </p>
<p>My source was a recent article in AmherstMedia.org. The figures were for 2013-2014
<a href=“http://www.amherstmedia.org/node/7233”>http://www.amherstmedia.org/node/7233</a></p>
<p>Data from 2012=2013 <a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges/economic-diversity-among-top-ranked-schools”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges/economic-diversity-among-top-ranked-schools</a>.
MHC didn’t have the data ready but I believe the percentages were close to the current level.</p>
<p>An equally interesting percentage is the number of “full-pay” students who are enrolled.</p>